Best Custom ROMs for Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 2 SCH-I605 [2013]

A few days back, we guided you to go Custom on a Sprint Galaxy Note 2 and also the Best Custom ROMs available for it, so how can we leave other carrier Variants in the dark. To cover that up, today we will discuss and overlay the list of Best Custom ROMs available for the Verizon variant of Samsung Galaxy Note 2.

Our world is full of variety and its people have various tastes, likings and preferences. As a smartphone user, your preferences might differ from others. But there are certain things on which all users might agree upon such as fast performance, stability, decent battery life, nice features and options for customization. Our chief focus then, while picking custom ROMs for this article was to address issues that appeal most people.

If you have a popular smartphone like Verizon Galaxy Note 2 SCH-I605, you can find hundreds of custom ROMs for it but when it comes to choose a couple of custom ROMs that are really the best, suite your taste and can be used as daily drivers, you are sure to get confused. It is where this article can help you. The Galaxy Note 2 a powerful device with the magical S Pen and being a Note 2 owner myself, I prefer to go with a custom ROM that allows me to enjoy all native features of my phone with better TouchWiz experience and a host of features.

Did not Rooted your Galaxy Note 2 SCH-I605 yet?

Please note that to be able to install a custom ROM on your Verizon Galaxy Note 2, you must root it, unlock its bootloader and install a custom Recovery on it. Here is the simplest way to root, unlock bootloader and install a custom recovery on Note 2 SCH-I605 in just a few clicks: Click Here

1. Carbon ROM JB 4.2.2

ROM Review:

When I Think of an AOSP based ROM for the Galaxy Note 2, Carbon ROM is the first name that strikes me. And why not, it is probably the best non-TouchWiz ROM and this is one of the reasons for starting up this article with it. It’s a custom ROM with numerous features and options for personalization. It’s light-weight, fast, battery-friendly and stable- these are the qualities that make a ROM great.

Carbon ROM is the outcome of hard work and passion to produce something worthwhile. Though I always recommend a custom ROM that is based on stock Samsung ROM, but I’ll also take this opportunity to suggest you try this ROM at once. Recently I reviewed the Carbon ROM after testing it for a week and it stood up to all my expectation and now I am in a situation to recommend with confidence. Read the detailed Review Here.

2. ParanoidAndroid ROM [JB: 4.2.2]

ROM Review

ParanoidAndroid or PA, you must have heard the name? yeah! The only ROM for Android to offer complete Hybrid mode with no build.prop hacks but genuine coded functions and features to transform your Smartphone into a Tablet, Phablet or even a Hybrid, making a mix of all. It all began with the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, when PA emerged and now with Jelly Bean, its one of the most popular ROM available for an Android device.

It is basically based off of AOSP and CM 10.1, hence its expected to see all the features of CM. Apart from that here’s the list of what PA offers, On-screen navigation buttons, Per-App DPI change. Per-App Color Change, Extreme Status bar modifications and much more that you shall discover once you flash this ROM to your device. One of the most-waited feature of pa 3 is PIE Control, if you still don’t know what it is, just bother to Install once and make note of the amazing feature.

To read the detailed Review of the ParanoidAndroid 3+ ROM, Click Here.

Downloads

3. CleanROM ACE ROM[JB: 4.1.2]

ROM Review

CleanROM is defined by its name, it is Clean and light with no useless stuff but a lot of added features. While the ROM has various variants but this specific ACE variant is much more popular among the users, actually for two major reasons. First that its based on Android 4.1.2 build N7105XXDLL7 and second, that it works with all the variants of Samsung Galaxy Note II and so does ACE stands for All Carrier Edition. According to CleanROM’s developer and maintainer, scrosler, the ROM is specifically targeted towards the users who want a Stock ROM experience with the ability to choose features and functions that they want or demand. An important thing to make note of, is that it supports Aroma Installer. To sum up, It is fast in speed, clean in stuff and Stable in battery.

The ROM is bought to the Verizon Note 2 users by the creater (developer) of this ROM itself. The latest release was made on 28 Jan, 2013 with labelled version 4.2.5, which adds a few bug fixes.

As in the views of DroidViews, a user who is more interested and keen to use stock ROM shall definitely give this ROM a go, to enjoy custom features with stock experience.

According to the ROM users, it is one of the best available which offers both features and stock usability on the same time.

Installation Instructions

Must have custom recovery installed. I recommend the latest version of twrp.

Copy ROM to storage

Reboot to Recovery

Must wipe data and factory reset in Recovery. Failure to do so waves your “right” to support.

Restoring any data from any back up also waves all your right to support. Please don’t bother posting in the thread!

Flash ROM and Select Options!

Reboot to System

Profit!

Downloads

4. CyanogenMod 10.1 ROM [JB: 4.2.1]

ROM Review

CyanogenMod or CM is one of the earliest and popular aftermarket Android firmware distributor. CM ROMs are well known for their stability and coded features which brings in the best to Android. The current CM releases are based off of Jellybean 4.1.2 and 4.2.1 code. For CM was one of the first Custom ROMs available for Android, so you shall see many other ROMs using the same code, either as a base or its bits for features. A CyanogenMod ROM running device can always assure its user to deliver stability in terms of battery, speed and performance. accompanied by a list of marvelous features.

The ROM was bought just a day back by XDA Developer sbrissen and which was an official release by the CM Team. So, the current builds are in the form of nightlies, delivered directly by the CM host server.

As in the views of DroidViews, CM ROM is perfect for those users who desire complete stability and performance, all at once.

According to the ROM users, CM is a perfect daily driver providing the best features and stability.

Installation Instructions

Steps, if you’re first time Installing CyanogenMod 10.1 or migrating from another ROM:

Read known issues and FAQs

Flash the latest official ClockworkMod-Recovery

Copy GApps and CM10.1 ZIPs to your SDCard

Boot into Recovery

Flash CM10.1 zip from SDCard

Flash GApps zip from SDCard

DO A DATA WIPE / FACTORY RESET (otherwise your device will be stuck at boot)

Reboot

Don’t restore system data using Titanium Backup!

Restoring Apps + Data might cause problems and is not recommended, avoid it if possible!

Downloads

5. Jelly ‘Beans’ ROM

ROM Review

Jelly ‘Beans’ is so feature-stuffed a ROM that I feel a little sense of injustice in reviewing it in such an article where I cannot give it the space it really deserves. The ROM has the Jelly of Samsung’s stock TouchWiz and the Beans of pure AOSP- it’s a combination that you cannot help loving. See it as a TW based ROM that gets rid of all terrible things of the stock firmware, or an AOSP ROM that packs all pretty features of the Note 2 for which you bought this giant device.

Beanstown106, the developer, has tuned his Jelly ‘Beans’ to be fast despite the fact it is fully loaded with apps, mods and features. Now this is a great achievement as most developers strip their ROMs of all bloats and even some useful features to force the device perform faster and yield better battery.

When it comes to customization and options for tweaks on user’s end, the Jelly ‘Beans’ ROMs leaves all far behind. It is installed via Aroma installer and this give you freedom to decide what way you like to have your Galaxy Note 2 SCH-I605. It’s like packing so many ROMs in just one package and you have to choose your favorite thing from that great supermarket of features and apps.

Below is just a small piece from the long tail of features the ROM offers: